A US citizen was arrested as a ranking member of a drug cartel

Mexican marines and federal police on Feb. 8 captured Jose Maria Guizar Valencia, known as "Z43," taking down a high-ranking figure in the Zetas cartel who was considered one of the 122 most wanted people in Mexico.

Mexico's government minister, Alfonso Navarrete, praised Mexico's naval forces for their investigation and coordination with civil intelligence that led to the arrest.

Mexico's national security commissioner, Renato Sales, said Feb. 9 that Guizar, a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen, was arrested in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City, a trendy section of the capital known for its restaurants and safety.

Born in Tulare, California, in November 1979, Guizar eventually joined the Zetas, which was formed in the mid-1990s when members of Mexico's military and special forces joined the Gulf cartel as muscle. The Zetas broke away to form their own organization around 2010.

After the death of Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, a founder of the cartel, in late 2012 and the arrest of his successor, Miguel Angel Treviño, in the summer of 2013, Guizar assumed control of his Zetas faction based in southern Mexico, according to the U.S. State Department, which offered up to $5 million for his arrest in 2014.

"He was one of the top underbosses of the Zetas," Mike Vigil, the former chief of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, told Business Insider.

"This guy steadily rose up the ranks, and he actually started as a hit man for the Zetas ... but he was groomed to handle logistics, to handle drugs that were smuggled into Guatemala and Honduras," and coordinate with other Zetas members to get drugs to the U.S., said Vigil, who detailed his experiences working undercover in Mexico in his book, Deal.

"This is a very good hit," Vigil said of the arrest. "It's a good feather in the hat of Mexican justice."

The State Department described Guizar as "his own entity" working with — but independently of — the Zetas faction headed by Alejandro "Omar" Treviño in the northern Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and Coahuila. Treviño is believed to have taken control of the cartel after the arrest of his brother, Miguel, before being arrested in March 2015.

Guizar may be related to Mauricio Guizar Cardenas, known as "El Amarillo," who was the first Zetas commander in Guatemala but was arrested in 2012.

"Guizar Valencia is responsible for the importation of thousands of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine to the United States on a yearly basis," the State Department said.

He has been indicted on drug-trafficking charges in Texas and Virginia.

Sources in the Mexican navy have said Guizar was behind a wave of violence in southeast Mexico, including the Mayan Rivera, which includes Cancun and Playa del Carmen, and the border area between Chiapas and Guatemala.

The Zetas cartel has been present in Guatemala since at least 2007. A Zetas-run training camp stocked with high-powered weapons was found near the Mexican border in 2009. Otto Perez Molina, who was president of Guatemala from 2012 until his resignation and jailing in relation to a graft case in 2015, said in 2013 that the Zetas controlled of two of the biggest drug routes in Guatemala and were fighting the Sinaloa cartel for control of the third.

"Los Zetas, under the command of Guizar-Valencia, have murdered an untold number of Guatemalan civilians during the systematic overtake of the Guatemalan border region with Mexico during recent years," the State Department said in 2014.

The Zetas have also formed a relationship with members of Guatemala's vaunted and notoriously violent special forces known as the Kaibiles because the latter has "not just preparation, but discipline, and military training that could help [the Zetas] with illegal activities," Perez Molina said at the time.

In the years since, other Guatemalan politicians have been accused of taking bribes from the Zetas in exchange for allowing them to operate there (The Kaibiles, like Mexico's special forces, have received training from the U.S.).

The Zetas' break from the Gulf cartel led to violent conflict between the two groups in Mexico, particularly in the northeast.

Areas in northeastern Mexico, especially along the border with the U.S. and Tamaulipas, have also been the site of intense clashes between Gulf factions, while the Zetas are largely based in neighboring Nuevo Leon.

It's unclear what effect Guizar's arrest will have on the Zetas' stability in southern Mexico. In recent years, the cartel has largely been run by plaza bosses or regional leaders, Vigil said.

Omar Garcia (Z-42), who headed up the Zetas before Guizar took over, being arrested on March 4, 2015. (Image via Vimeo)

As in northern Mexico, Guizar's arrest could lead to more violence if a leadership vacuum opens and causes more internal feuding. It is likely to further erode an organization that Vigil described as already "pretty well crippled."

Guizar "was a trusted member of the cartel," he added. "He was probably going to rise to Zetas leadership," given his stature within the cartel and his knowledge both of drug trade with Colombia and of the Zetas' internal structure.

"He would've been a formidable leader with a little bit of time if he had been allowed to consolidate his power," Vigil said.